Service life of OLED: All information about durability and efficiency
Televisions, cell phones and monitors with OLED displays have numerous advantages, but only a limited lifespan. We explain to you how long the displays last and why.
Service life of OLED displays: when is the end?
- OLED displays are made of organic material and therefore do not last forever. Losses of quality in terms of brightness and color intensity are still to be feared in some cases even with current OLEDs. However, technology has improved a lot in recent years.
- In 2013, LG had promised a lifespan of 36, 000 hours for its OLED TVs. In 2016, the lifespan was increased to 100, 000 hours. This significantly exceeded the lifespan of the LCD displays (around 70, 000 hours).
- If the display is operated for 10 hours a day, you will get around 10 years with a lifespan of 100, 000 hours. With current OLED TVs from LG, the lifespan should no longer be an issue.
- However, there are several manufacturers that use different OLED technologies and offer numerous different display models. So there are many efficient and durable OLEDs, but also some black sheep.
OLED: Shortened lifespan by baking
- If an OLED display always shows the same content for a very long time, the image can burn in. Recently the problem occurred with the OLED display from the Google Pixel XL 2.
- If the image burns in, it will shimmer more or less when viewing other content. The affected area also becomes significantly darker.
- Unfortunately, no one can yet say exactly how good the latest generation of OLED displays will look after a few years in operation. As the Google Pixel XL 2 shows, not every OLED display can be relied on.
- Tip: If you are looking for the best display type for your new smartphone or your next television, you will be confronted with numerous terms such as OLED, LCD, Retina and AMOLED. We explain the exact differences here for TV displays as well as for smartphone displays.
This has never happened before: LG builds tunnels from over 200 OLED displays
In the next practical tip, we will show you the difference between OLED and QLED.